News broke on Thursday that former MP Danson Mungatana had been arrested over the theft of sh. 51 million from Kilifi County.
But how well do you know this man? Well, there is a story about how this man lost an eye-watering sh 76 million to smooth crooks from West Africa.
The former Assistant Minister for Medical Services would have been an overnight billionaire, but is now crying in the toilet after selling prime land in Karen to top up money which was to be multiplied.
The con scheme took place between March and September 2018 according to a close relative.
Police sources intimated that Mungatana reported the matter to the police to recover his dough which he lost through “wash-wash” in which chemicals are used to ‘launder dirty money’ and turn it to legal tender.
“Wash-wash” has been employed by smooth criminals as a time tested method of separating suckers from their money.
Mungatana thus refused to write a police statement for fear of exposing himself to ridicule.
Instead, he chose to direct police to the con artists operation base in Brookside Drive in Westlands Nairobi where police recovered Sh1 billion in fake American dollars and Euroswhich could been Mungatana’s windfall.
The former Garsen MP had first invested a few millions into the scheme, and the returns were four times his seed money.
The deal was good and Mungatana was baited like a crocodile in Tana River. He swallowed it hook, line and Sh76 million sinker.
A senior police officer explained to this writer that the conmen “first ‘wash’ some money and then give their victim the dollars to go to a forex bureau or a bank to confirm authenticity,” he said.
“For them, it’s the investment they put into their dirty business. Thereafter, the victim will be convinced that the dollars are real and more can be found.
So a victim goes back but they ask for more money. That’s the trick mheshimiwa fell for,” said the officer.
Mungatana, who topped his class at Alliance High School before graduating with a degree in Trade and Investment Law from of University of Nairobi, and is a two time legislator, also lost his Mercedes to West African tricksters.
Mungatana gave the West Africans his car to sell and add proceeds to purchase the “wash wash” chemicals for turning the dirty dough into a billion.
But by August 2018, the man President Uhuru Kenyatta had appointed chair of Kenya Ports Authority in 2014, shortly realized “pesa ime kunywa maji” and that he had been taken to the cleaners.
The “wash wash” guys kept on asking for more money forcing him to sell his Karen land to top up.
But on noticing he was being taken for a ride, Mungatana reported to the Nairobi Area Police where officers recovered Mungatana’s Mercedes which is now being held as an exhibit.
The con men are ironically from, you didn’t guess this one, Mali: Abdoulaye Tamba Kouro, his son Abdala Tamba and a Kenyan, Anthony Mangangi Munyiva.
The Sh1 billion in fake foreign currency and which they intended to “wash” was recently paraded on local television stations.